Procession and Continuity: A Nineteenth-Century View of an Eighteenth-Century Ceremony

Abstract

The Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Collection (SVIKV) holds an illustrative mid-century example of Ottoman commemorative lithography, large in format (63 x 41 cm; 71 x 49 cm including its frame) and enhanced with hand-applied colors (fig. 1). According to its trilingual inscription—printed in English, Ottoman Turkish, and French—the scene shows an imperial procession held for the bayram holiday holiday of 1176 H / 1762, passing through the First Court of the Topkapı Palace.